11/13/08
Text: Nik Mercer
Overlooked geniuses seem to spring up with such regularity that one begins to wonder whether or not the theorists, philosophers, and Great Minds history have forgotten are, in fact, worth studying. Thankfully, such is not the case with Otto Neurath, an Austrian philosopher, sociologist, city planner, and much more during the early- to mid-1900s who is the subject of a new book, Otto Neurath: The Language of the Global Polis (NAi Publishers).
"A philosopher who hated academic philosophy, a museum administrator who despised conventional museums, a sociologist who distrusted the sociological method, and a city planner who was critical of the city," Neurath spent his life devising new and interesting ways to approach life in the Information Age and question the core facets of society (his notion of a moneyless society perhaps illustrating this penchant to change things up best).
Neurath's first big success came in 1907 when he began teaching political economy at the Vienna Business School. His teaching position dissertation, "Towards a Perspective on Antiquity through Trade, Commerce, and Agriculture," brought Neurath much attention, and his became a member of the "first" Vienna Circle. Shortly thereafter, in 1912, Neurath received a Carnigie Endowment for International Peace fellowship and began studying the economic conditions of the Balkan War. Four years later, he found himself as the head of the General War and Economics Section of the Scientific Committee for the War Economy in the Austria War Ministry, making it clear that war-related matters would be a major part of his professional life until his death in 1945. In 1924, Neurath established the Museum for Settlement and City Planning in Vienna and started work on the General Architectural Plan for the place. Neurath only grew more and more successful, eventually working on various WWII projects and teaching at Oxford for the last year of his life.
On top of theorizing, teaching, lecturing, and consulting all day, Neurath was also a talented draftsman. He immaculately illustrated many of his plans, outlines, and so forth, making this new book a delightful piece of eye candy as well as one of great scholarly interest.
There's one quote in the book that we think sums of the essence of Neurath: "Modern man is very spoiled by cinema and illustrations. He receives his education in the most comfortable of means, partly during his periods of rest, through optical impressions. If one seeks to disseminate socioscientific education generally, one must use similar means of representation. The modern advertisement will show the way!"
As you can see, Nuerath was partially a tremendous success because he just operated on a different wavelength than the one most were using during his career. If anything, more Neuraths in today's society would be immensely beneficial. Check out the book and fully understand why!
Buy Otto Neurath: The Language of the Global Polis
